Jan. 15, 2006

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Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
Opening statement:
"It was really a good team effort tonight. Obviously, this has been a tough week and it's been pretty hard to keep my focus, so it must be for the players also. This league is so even this year that it's tough - every game is going to be tough. There's no place you look on the schedule and say, `We're going to win that game,' because that's not going to happen this year for many teams in the ACC. [There was] a lot of courage out there tonight for Maryland. It was really a good effort."

On the play of Wake Forest guard Justin Gray:
"That's as good as I've seen. I've never seen anybody put on a better show from the three-point line. I think Walt Williams down at Florida State made seven in a row from the three-point line when he had 39 down there, so that was probably comparable, but I haven't seen many people shoot the ball like that."

On the play of junior guard Mike Jones:
"I just told him when he was open, shoot it, and if he misses, keep shooting, and that's what a shooter wants to hear. I told all the guys that, and Mike did a great job with it."

On the overall team play:
"I'm happy with the way we played tonight. Tonight, we needed Will's size in there and he came through for us. James had to start. Sterling's been playing much better in practice, and he did a great job for us tonight. That's going to be the theme for us this year. People like Mike Jones and James [Gist], they know how important they are to us, and after tonight, you need that win to get that confidence going when you're playing different people out there."

On Wake Forest's shooting from the three-point line:
"That's unbelievable. They were 12-for-31; it seemed like they were 20-for-31 watching them shoot."

On the team's offense:
"We slowed it down and we scored 90 points. We were much more under control in the half-court. DJ [Strawberry] did a great job of controlling the tempo out there tonight, and we still took advantage of the chances we had to run. That's the best way to play."

On substituting James Gist for Travis Garrison:
"They sub for each other during the season. What was different was we didn't have the depth that we usually have on the front line. I was very concerned with that, especially when we had Ekene with two fouls and a couple other guys with two in the first half and we had to keep them on the bench. Will Bowers, Sterling [Ledbetter], Mike Jones, all those guys did a great job. James gives you a tremendous athlete in there. I stay on James about showing that every play. He does things in practice that are just incredible. He's still got some things he can do that nobody's seen yet."

Maryland Guard D.J. Strawberry
On playing at the Comcast Center:
"You have to defend your home court in the ACC. We wanted to come out with a lot of energy and use the crowd as an emotional boost."

On the play of reserves Sterling Ledbetter and Parrish Brown:
"Parrish and Sterling are natural point guards so they know the flow of the game a little better than me. I just go out and play wherever Coach puts me on the floor. They did a solid job and helped us finish the game out with a win."

On the play of WF guard Justin Gray:
"Justin Gray is a phenomenal player. We've watched so much film on him, but it's nothing like watching him in person. He hits unbelievable shots. He wouldn't go away tonight and he kept his team in it until the end. I give him much respect after that game."

On the upcoming game against Virginia Tech:
"They're a good team that's going to come out and fight hard. We've got to be ready for war on the floor."

Maryland Forward James Gist
On starting the game tonight:
"Coach [Williams] came up to me in practice and told me that he needed me to start. Having a great team means having players who can step up when help is needed."

On staying focused after a rough stretch:
"It wasn't difficult at all. Our main goal is to not lose at home this year, so we took pride in that. It was a very big win. Wake Forest is a very good team and they're going to prove that down the road."

On the play of Justin Gray:
"It was crazy. Justin is a great player. I give him credit. We did the best we could, but he hit a lot of shots."

Maryland Guard Mike Jones
On a good shooting night for the Terps:
"We've been getting good shots in practice and we came out tonight and executed like we did in practice. When you're a player and you're open, you have to take a shot. We got really good shots tonight."

Wake Forest Head Coach Skip Prosser
On the keys to the game:
"Even though Maryland had more turnovers, I thought our turnovers at key stretches were the difference in the game. You can't allow Maryland to shoot 51 percent. They had too many lay-ups because we just gave the ball to them. Our ball handling ability is ... it just rears its ugly head way too often."

On the 2nd-half comeback:
"It's hard to come back after being down 17 unless you play almost perfectly. We had some great possessions in some key spots."

On Justin Gray's performance:
"I thought he played with a big heart. A lot of our guys are playing inconsistently and he is not one of them."

On being 0-3 in the ACC:
"The last time we lost three in a row we went to the Sweet 16. This league is a two-month ordeal. We're not playing well enough right now to win."

On Mike Jones:
"We talked about Mike and being an X-factor type of guy, a guy who can really get it going."

On Wake Forest's rebounding:
"We weren't standing around. We didn't reward ourselves. 20 offensive rebounds against Maryland is pretty good. I'm not sure we put enough of those back in the basket to counter the ones we gave them. You don't get 20 offensive rebounds unless you play hard."

Wake Forest Guard Justin Gray
On Wake Forest's second-half comeback:
"We got them to miss some shots and we got a couple of steals. We executed our offense and we got the shots we wanted to get. If we had started the game out like that, we wouldn't have gotten down by 17. It's hard to come back from 17 against anybody, but especially at Maryland."

On scoring 38 points:
"I was just prepared to play well. In practice, I try to go out there like it's a game. I know I have to play well for my team to win, not only at home, but on the road I'm going to have to have an even bigger game to give us confidence."

On playing Maryland:
"We knew they can score the ball and get up and down the court. We just tried to stop them from getting the transition points. We tried to have good offense. When they got breakaways, it was because of our bad offense, our turnovers leading to easy lay-ups for them."